Project Trailer: Deadstone

Kilgore__Trout

EDIT: Check post 10 for newest links to trailers!

witnessmenow

Hey ,

Just had a quick look at the video there.

The first 10 seconds happen way too fast! I'd say if you slowed that down to half speed it would look better. You are switching between the text and image too quickly (not the transition), you should leave both of them on screen a little longer

The video ends with "[Enter Text Here]"

"Complex" is a bad word to use describing a user interface of some kind, "In-Depth" is much more positive sounding word to use.

I think the game looks really good though, I'd be happy to try out a demo if you had one

Kilgore__Trout

See what you mean about the start, will slow it down as you suggested. Have some more bits to add, so will replace the enter text here. Think you're right about complex... it almost suggests frustration... good call.

Doing a bit of rebalancing at the moment, but will tackle making a demo soon. Will give you a link when it's sea worthy. Appreciate the help.

Lone Stone

Looks cool the audio is a bit jarring, and its maybe a bit to long. I would end it at the 1:14 mark and maybe just have like a summary, title , made by xx, 1 to 2 player co op or some thing like that. or when your having your black outs and text pop in have co op mode or some such thing.

Kilgore__Trout

Not entirely happy with the end either to be honest. Think it's the repetition of the audio... couldn't get custom music, so had to bend the music around the trailer a little. Also tried having the game sfx (gunfire, explosions) in the coop sequence, but that didn't seem to work. Will look into getting some short ambient music/sfx to break up repetition.

When you say the audio jars, could you give me a little more on it... really want to get this right. Thanks for suggestions.

Torakx

Nice work I can see so much has gone into this.
I agree about the trailer length, mostly because it's a recurring landscape/area. If the environment changed in the video it might give a sense of ..location or just that you are somewhere.
I'm sure that will be coming after all the mechanics etc.

Nice one
Keep us updated!

Kilgore__Trout

Thanks for all the critique and encouragement. It's very much appreciated. Spent the day incorporating suggestions into the trailer, and also made a second one. They haven't been processed for HD yet, but will add links when they are.

@ Torakx: There's not much environment design as such, it's more of a defense game, think somewhere between nation red and revenge of the titans, except you retain your character stats and perks between levels. And there's 2 separate stories : )

@ Ropedrink: When you say bad pacing, is there anything specific that jumps out? I've looked at it so many times, it's very hard to see objectively.

Kilgore__Trout

Will have another look to see what interludes could be dropped. Think it's important to draw attention to co-op, the fact you can build defenses, and the character development system though.

EDIT: Will drop "Frantic Combat" for Trailer 1 on next pass

Have integrated some of the suggestions in the new trailers. The first is effectively the same, except with more time between the story slides, and less repetition of the sound. It's here if you'd like to have a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qvAGUt82s0

The second uses different parts of the game soundtrack, replaces some of the clips, is ordered differently, has 1 or 2 less black screen & text interludes. It's here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf0P5DGuIrE

Was going to set up a poll to facilitate voting for which you think is best, but doesn't seem to allow this. Be happy to get more feedback if you have the time to look through the trailers.

There's an issue with the title screen, it's not meant to be solid orange around title, think it may relate to transparency. I'll look into fixing this.

Torakx

Second video seemed a lot better to me. The first one felt too long still.
But for some reason the music/sounds for me felt better in the first video. Maybe my imagination, but seemed like it was different in the second.
Ye I just checked again.
Personally I would say slightly shorter again. Only show what needs to be seen of mechanics without too many repeats where you could help it.
A mention of multiplayer co-op might help(very briefly) nearer the start of the action.
I can pick up quite a lot of the game mechanics(even multiplayer) just be seeing the video without text. I can tell when they are using a shotgun for example and know it will have different weapons.

It's definetly getting better though. I noticed the environment changing more this time and it broke the monotony in that respect.
What might be nice to go with that lovely art, is quiet background sounds, like a burning fire where the spaceship in the background had crashed, and dust storms in other scenes outside. In the hallways maybe sound effects in the distance of shooting or shouting. Maybe a bad idea too. Only one way to know and it's to test

Kilgore__Trout

A few people have mentioned they prefer first on grounds of music. Personally leaning toward the first. Am exporting a new version of it now. It's 15 seconds shorter than the last version, has one less FTB, 4 (rather than the original 9) repetitions of the interlude sound. A pal made the same point about mentioning coop earlier, rather than tacking it on at the end, and that's been done too. As you noticed, took your advice on mixing up the environments a bit more : ) Also switched around the "Colonists fate is in your hands" as it seemed a better note to go out on.

There are sounds accompanying the story in the in-game intro, but they are longer. Think you make a valid point about filling in the space between beats though. Will try to fit them in/ look for replacements.

Kilgore__Trout

@ Ropedrink: Two good reference trailers there. Also had a look at the trailer for Fez and Star Commander among others. The consensus appears to be that 2 mins is the max, unless you are releasing something highly anticipated, and generally that less is more. Did manage to cut around 15 seconds out on the most recent one, but cutting any more will create problems with matching to music, and more or less require a complete restructuring. May look at making a shorter one if time allows though.

@ All: Thanks for taking the time to watch and the tips. Probably would have left the trailer as is without your feedback. As it stands (to my eyes anyway) the most recent one is a nice improvement on the starting point.

Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bcn9A-Ot84&feature

satchmo

Two links you should read: Making Entertaining and Engaging Video Game Trailers, and Journalists talking about what they think makes an effective game trailer. Lots of food for thought in there.

The latest trailer is definitely better, but it takes 23 seconds before we see any gameplay - that's way too long. The still images at the beginning only serve to delay the action, I'd drop them completely. Also, you should make a bigger deal of two-player local co-op, that's not very common and a good selling point.

Congrats on getting the game to this stage! No mean feat.

Kilgore__Trout

Have read through the second, will check out first. Agree that 23 seconds is too long to wait for gameplay... will eject the first illustration and see about tightening it up.

witnessmenow

We want demo, we want demo, we want demo

If I could give some advice about the demo, the earlier you get feedback on something the easier it is to turn it around. Without user feedback you could spend days re-working something that isn't important to end users while there are other stuff you could do.

I'm not saying you need to publicly release a demo, but I really recommend getting honest user feedback off people (asking your Mam to play and her telling your great doesnt count , unfortunately )

A guy I work with has a saying, if you are not embarrassed about elements of your release you took too long to release it!

I'm also going to make a bold recommendation, you should consider releasing the game on the Ouya, you will not have commercial success on it (probably!) but if your game is written in Unity there should not be any huge effort involved deploying. It is a place where there is a small amount of games so its possible for your games to get some traction and for you to connect with users... just a thought.

Kilgore__Trout

witnessmenow wrote: »

(asking your Mam to play and her telling your great doesnt count , unfortunately )

Have just fired my QA lead on the back of your advice. Probably get a frosty reception next time I'm home for Sunday dinner, but that's life : )

Demo should be fairly soon. Need one or two more pieces of art, and then need to jettison any unnecessary assets and tidy the code, but it shouldn't be long.

More platforms is good and Ouya could be an option. Found some videos about porting from Unity, and have bookmarked them for later. Two main concerns would be stability of Unity games on Ouya (which I know nothing about), and the game's current lack of full controller support (you can play through the combat sections) but keyboard and mouse are necessary for the colony UI. Game's very stable at this point, so am very reluctant to risk upsetting the apple cart by adding new features before release.

Kilgore__Trout

Hi all,

Based on the feedback from GD&E, I did a little more work on the trailer since the last post. There's no new footage as such, but they are cut differently, and some parts have been omitted from some. Trailer A is pretty much the original trailer. If you have the time, any chance you could check them out and let me know which you think does the best job holding the viewers attention and showcasing the game? Thanks!

Trailer A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbat5C-Qe0g

Trailer B: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDBDNxWyHlU

Trailer C: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sjT_O941H8

Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCaeyLKmKrU